Irish general election, 1967

The Irish general election, 1967 was held on 11 August 1967. The people of Ireland voted to elect a new Dail Eireann in a snap election, in which Fianna Fail increased its share of the vote by around 7%.

History
The 1961 election returned Fianna Fail to power with a sizeable majority, and the 1966 election saw Fianna Fail win re-election in a landslide. Happiness concerning Ireland's stable economic state and Taoiseach Finbar Brannigan's political reforms led to Fianna Fail enjoying widespread popularity. Fianna Fail was helped by two major political scandals: on 16 April 1966, newspapers revealed that the Irish Labor Party was involved with illegal union activity, blackmail of important citizens, and mistreatment of servants; and, on 23 January 1967, Fine Gael's neo-Blueshirt fascist militant wing was revealed to have murdered socialist politicians, tortured priests, and attempted to burn the mansion of a wealthy minority leader. Before a crisis could break out, Fianna Fail decided to call elections, hoping to increase its majority.

The discredited Labour Party lost its support in County Dublin and the surrounding areas, and Fianna Fail soon held a clear majority in every county. The election went just as Fianna Fail planned, with Fianna Fail winning an even larger majority than in previous elections, enabling it to continue its reform programme without molestation from the shrinking parliamentary opposition. The next election, held in 1972, would see Fianna Fail return to power for a fourth term.

Results

 * Fianna Fail glyph.png Fianna Fail - 60.24%


 * Irish Labor Party glyph.png Irish Labor Party - 19%


 * Fine Gael glyph.png Fine Gael - 12.03%


 * Sinn Fein logo.jpg Sinn Fein - 8.72%